Switching Text Editors Yet Again

It's time for a change-up: switching from Sublime Text to neovim.

9 January 2025, 10:25 CET 1160 words 6 minutes

Filed under: Articles Writing, Software Development

Some of you might remember that back in 2022, I switched from Atom to Sublime Text. I’ve been using Sublime Text ever since, but lately, it has become clear to me that its development has slowed to a crawl. Which is annoying, because some serious bugs that drive me crazy haven’t been fixed ever since I’ve been using it again. So I had to start looking for a new editor. And no, I still don’t want to use VS Code. It’s too slow, too clumsy and they’re leaning way too hard into this AI bullshit for my tastes. I like software that is small, lean and elegant. Which is why, after some experimentation in recent days, I have now settled on neovim. I am already familiar with Vim anyway, it’s cross-platform and does everything I need in a very efficient package.

Of course, it’s so customisable, that you’ll easily get lost in the weeds. So I settled on a few quickstart packages and things to get this new tool up and running in a way that is aesthetically pleasing to me and doesn’t take days of fiddling with config files. I installed AstroVim, which is a quickstart config that uses the LazyVim packaging system and only needs minimal tweaking to get it to look and behave to my liking. What follows is a quick-and-dirty guide at how to install AstroVim with my config.

Windows Install

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git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/AstroNvim/template $env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim
Remove-Item $env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim\.git -Recurse -Force
nvim

Linux Install

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git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/AstroNvim/template ~/.config/nvim
rm -rf ~/.config/nvim/.git
nvim

Note: When nvim launches, the LazyVim package manager will install some stuff. Afterwards, reload nvim.

Configuration

Enable AstroCommunity in /nvim/lua/community.lua and configure plugins:

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-- AstroCommunity: import any community modules here
-- We import this file in `lazy_setup.lua` before the `plugins/` folder.
-- This guarantees that the specs are processed before any user plugins.

---@type LazySpec
return {
  "AstroNvim/astrocommunity",
  { import = "astrocommunity.pack.lua" },
  -- import/override with your plugins folder

  -- my plugins
  { import = "astrocommunity.bars-and-lines.lualine-nvim" },
  { import = "astrocommunity.colorscheme.fluoromachine-nvim" },
  { import = "astrocommunity.pack.markdown" },
  { import = "astrocommunity.pack.lua" },
  { import = "astrocommunity.recipes.auto-session-restore" },
}

Enable the theme in /nvim/lua/plugins/astroui.lua:

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-- AstroUI provides the basis for configuring the AstroNvim User Interface
-- Configuration documentation can be found with `:h astroui`
-- NOTE: We highly recommend setting up the Lua Language Server (`:LspInstall lua_ls`)
--       as this provides autocomplete and documentation while editing

---@type LazySpec
return {
  "AstroNvim/astroui",
  ---@type AstroUIOpts
  opts = {
    -- change colorscheme
    -- colorscheme = "astrodark",
    colorscheme = "fluoromachine",
    --[[
    -- AstroUI allows you to easily modify highlight groups easily for any and all colorschemes
    highlights = {
      init = { -- this table overrides highlights in all themes
        -- Normal = { bg = "#000000" },
      },
      astrodark = { -- a table of overrides/changes when applying the astrotheme theme
        -- Normal = { bg = "#000000" },
      },
    },
    -- Icons can be configured throughout the interface
    icons = {
      -- configure the loading of the lsp in the status line
      LSPLoading1 = "⠋",
      LSPLoading2 = "⠙",
      LSPLoading3 = "⠹",
      LSPLoading4 = "⠸",
      LSPLoading5 = "⠼",
      LSPLoading6 = "⠴",
      LSPLoading7 = "⠦",
      LSPLoading8 = "⠧",
      LSPLoading9 = "⠇",
      LSPLoading10 = "⠏",
    },
  ]]--
  },
}

And, lastly, customise Vim options in /nvim/lua/plugins/astrocore.lua:

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-- AstroCore provides a central place to modify mappings, vim options, autocommands, and more!
-- Configuration documentation can be found with `:h astrocore`
-- NOTE: We highly recommend setting up the Lua Language Server (`:LspInstall lua_ls`)
--       as this provides autocomplete and documentation while editing

---@type LazySpec
return {
  "AstroNvim/astrocore",
  ---@type AstroCoreOpts
  opts = {
    -- Configure core features of AstroNvim
    features = {
      large_buf = { size = 1024 * 256, lines = 10000 }, -- set global limits for large files for disabling features like treesitter
      autopairs = true, -- enable autopairs at start
      cmp = true, -- enable completion at start
      diagnostics_mode = 3, -- diagnostic mode on start (0 = off, 1 = no signs/virtual text, 2 = no virtual text, 3 = on)
      highlighturl = true, -- highlight URLs at start
      notifications = true, -- enable notifications at start
    },
    -- Diagnostics configuration (for vim.diagnostics.config({...})) when diagnostics are on
    diagnostics = {
      virtual_text = true,
      underline = true,
    },
    -- vim options can be configured here
    options = {
      opt = { -- vim.opt.<key>
        relativenumber = false, -- sets vim.opt.relativenumber
        number = true, -- sets vim.opt.number
        spell = true, -- sets vim.opt.spell
        signcolumn = "yes", -- sets vim.opt.signcolumn to yes
        wrap = true, -- sets vim.opt.wrap
      },
      g = { -- vim.g.<key>
        -- configure global vim variables (vim.g)
        -- NOTE: `mapleader` and `maplocalleader` must be set in the AstroNvim opts or before `lazy.setup`
        -- This can be found in the `lua/lazy_setup.lua` file
      },
    },
    -- Mappings can be configured through AstroCore as well.
    -- NOTE: keycodes follow the casing in the vimdocs. For example, `<Leader>` must be capitalized
    mappings = {
      -- first key is the mode
      n = {
        -- second key is the lefthand side of the map

        -- navigate buffer tabs
        ["]b"] = { function() require("astrocore.buffer").nav(vim.v.count1) end, desc = "Next buffer" },
        ["[b"] = { function() require("astrocore.buffer").nav(-vim.v.count1) end, desc = "Previous buffer" },

        -- mappings seen under group name "Buffer"
        ["<Leader>bd"] = {
          function()
            require("astroui.status.heirline").buffer_picker(
              function(bufnr) require("astrocore.buffer").close(bufnr) end
            )
          end,
          desc = "Close buffer from tabline",
        },

        -- tables with just a `desc` key will be registered with which-key if it's installed
        -- this is useful for naming menus
        -- ["<Leader>b"] = { desc = "Buffers" },

        -- setting a mapping to false will disable it
        -- ["<C-S>"] = false,
      },
    },
  },
}

Bonus

On Windows, I use the following Terminal colour scheme to make the rest of the terminal match my editor setup:

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{
  "background": "#200933",
  "black": "#241B2F",
  "blue": "#FFCC00",
  "brightBlack": "#262335",
  "brightBlue": "#CCA300",
  "brightCyan": "#81E8FF",
  "brightGreen": "#5BC193",
  "brightPurple": "#CA147B",
  "brightRed": "#FE6973",
  "brightWhite": "#8BA7A7",
  "brightYellow": "#CA147B",
  "cursorColor": "#8BA7A7",
  "cyan": "#61E2FF",
  "foreground": "#8BA7A7",
  "green": "#72F1B8",
  "name": "Fluoromachine",
  "purple": "#FC199A",
  "red": "#FE4450",
  "selectionBackground": "#463465",
  "white": "#8BA7A7",
  "yellow": "#FC199A"
}